River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-03-10
rngitIve slave Law Ksmini,eence

Cleveland Leader: One of the early
efforts TO reclaim an escaped slave under
the provisions ofthe Fugitive-Slave law,
which did so much to intensity the
hatred of slavery in the free States, was
made at Perrysburg. O. Henry Gaynes,
a bright, handsome. gentlemanly
mulatto. who had kept a bakers shop
in the village, and whose pleasant man
ners and correct department had made
| him a favorite with the people at the foot
of the rapids, was arrested by Federal
Marshal and his posse of slave hunters
from Kentucky. They were hurrying
| ing him OFF to the other side of Mason
and Dixon's line, when a brace of new
| ly-iledged lawyers sued out writ of
| habeas corpus and had the prisoner
| brought before Elijah Huntington, then
and for many years before an astute,
honest, stubbed Justice of the Peace,
who hated slavery almost as
much as he loved the
close communion Baptist Church.
/ The marshal and his posse clustered,
cursed, and threatened, and their coun-
sci bullied the inexperienced young
sters who dared to question the lega-
| suiiiciency of an arrest and detention of
/ slave by a high and mighty Marshal
of the United States of America, in a
manner so disrespectful, overbearing.
and insulting that it put the freedoml
| loving audience who crowded the court
room on their mettle.
Every ruling made by the Justice
| against the Marshal on interlocutorv
questions was greeted with smiles and
suppressed applause. and tears of SYM
pathy for the prisoner at the bar We're
not wanting. 1t gradually became APP
parent from the angry flush of the old
] Magistrate face, the beaded drops of
perspiration on his corrugated brows,
and the increased snappishness of his
rulings, that he despaired of finding
| legal means of deliverance for poor
Gaynes. Every one knew that the old
| Justice would rather die at the stake
| than swcrve the variation of the COM
pass from theneedle from the strict let
| ter and spirit of the law. The spectators
were angry and desperate, curses were
muttcred upon the law and its miniOns,
breach of the peace was becoming i'm
minent, when the prisoner sprang ten
| feet from his chair with the agility of u
| tiger, and shouted at the top of his voice,
"A dead boss or free Niger, dashed
to the street and leaped on a deep chest
ed, fleeted-footed horse which just hap
pened to be there, all saddled. all brid
| led, all fit for the flight of
the dusky knight. Away
they flew, up Front street, down
the hill, through the valley, over the
river bridge, through Maumec City,
and off for Canada.
The Marshal and his men attempted
to pursue, but each man in the court
room seemed determined to be the first
fellow out, and many swore that no
Kentucky bloodhound could get the
start of them in chasing a runaway
darky. There was so much more of
haste than direction or progress in get
ting out that the Marshal reached the
street about the time his late prisoner
was scudding over the valley more than
half mile away The toll-gate on the
bridge was open for the fugitive. but
shut locked for the Marshal and his
men. Good, pious old ex-Sheriff Joshua
Chapel. the gate tender, had business
under the bridge. and, fat and aged, it
took him some precious minutes to get
to his post, and. when there, he was
conscientious and punctilious about
making change before opening the gate
that the chances for recapturing the
fugitive weredesperate. Gaynes reached
Canada. and two fine broadcloth coat
patterns soon afterward reached his
counsel. Whether they paid the duty,
aud just how the right horse happened
to be at the right place at the right
time. may possibly be known by an
early and much honored Chief Justice
Of one of our Western Territories.